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The emirate’s burgeoning free trade area for commodities is a vision of what could be in store for post-Brexit Britain

While Britain debates Brexit and the challenges of trade post-European Union membership, what can the nation learn from efforts to promote free trade elsewhere in the world?

In the fast-growing global hub of Dubai, for example, the taxless appeal of free trade has helped secure a bumper share of the commodities market between East and West.

DMCC, located in its Jumeirah Lakes Towers district, was set up as a government entity in 2002 and its unique combination of Free Zone status, low VAT, available commercial and residential property, and top-tier commodities and financial services firms mean it has swiftly become the world’s No 1 Free Zone.

DMCC regulates, promotes and facilitates the trade of all manner of goods. Annually, Dubai’s physical gold and diamond trading hub accounts for $75bn of business, while the DMCC Tea Centre handled 53,000 tonnes of tea, with hopes of similar success for the DMCC Coffee Centre, opening this year.

Should the UK be outside the Single Market and Customs Union post-Brexit, all goods inbound to the UK will be subject to import taxes such as VAT and Customs duties.

Alongside the negotiation of free trade agreements with other nations, should the Government also consider creating free trade zones (FTZs) on UK soil? There are no operational FTZs in the UK at present, although several ports have been authorised in the past.

Creating such a zone could reduce or even remove import taxes for companies within it and promote enterprise, particularly manufacturing.

Global shifts

The evolution of international trade has brought renewed importance on East-West commercial hubs.

Twenty years ago, almost 60pc of non-oil exports from the Middle East went to EU nations, with just 20pc sent to Asia. Now, the EU’s share is less than 40pc, while Asia’s has risen to 35pc.

“This pivot raises questions and challenges but brings a balance of new opportunities,” said former UK trade minister Lord Green of Hurstpierpoint at Dubai’s recent conference, The New Global Trade Order, held together with UK-based Asia House.

“It is changing the trade equation for every country in the Middle East.”

Such change is only accelerating. The Future of Trade, a biennial report from DMCC that draws from 250 experts across five continents, predicts today that sweeping advances in tech and finance will fuel global trade over next decade.

DMCC executive chairman Ahmed Bin Sulayem said: “Free trade begins with a handshake. In the future, that handshake will indisputably and increasingly be taking place in a digital universe.”

The report suggests technology could bridge the $1.5 trillion trade finance gap that is currently holding back opportunities for investment and trade worldwide.

Such new opportunities will be important to an ambitious UK. Indeed, a DMCC report in March found more than one-quarter of UK firms felt Brexit has boosted their appetite for international expansion, with two-thirds of respondents actively looking at Dubai as a business opportunity.

Alongside its geographical location, respondents noted the nation’s business-friendly regime, financial services expertise, depth of specialist industries and the growing strength of its marketplace for commodities.

DMCC already hosts 1,350 British businesses, including more than 25pc of all mid-sized British businesses that have set up in the UAE, attracted by benefits including 100pc repatriation and full foreign ownership.

Yet while the opportunity to set up shop within the emirate is appealing to many, perhaps the UK should recognise the appeal of the model itself too.

DMCC’s Future of Trade report predicts sweeping advances in tech and finance will fuel global trade over next decade.